History

Built from timber felled in 1522. It was originally a cruck-framed hall house, with an open 2-bay hall and storeyed outer bays. A full upper storey was created c1600 when a fireplace was inserted into the hall, creating a lobby-entry plan. A fireplace was also added to the outer room, which was probably originally a kitchen but later became a parlour. The walls were stone from the beginning, and have been progressively raised. In the C19 an additional unit was added at the W end, which is attached to a restored and altered L-shaped farm range, which is first shown on the 1889 Ordnance Survey. This additional unit has been adapted as a separate dwelling. The windows of the house were enlarged in the early C20 and then replaced in the late C20.

Exterior

A 2-storey house of whitened rubble-stone walls, slate roof, brick stack R of centre and gable stack to the R with brick chimney. The house faces S and has a 4-window front, with casement windows replaced in earlier C20 openings. The replaced door R of centre is within a lean-to conservatory. Further L is a vertical joint separating the main house from the added C19 unit. It has a replaced glazed door and gabled dormer. Attached to the L gable end is an altered, lower L-shaped farm range, partly converted for domestic use but also incorporating a cow house of rubble stone, corrugated-iron roof and 4 boarded doors. The 4-window rear of the house has openings similar to the front. The replaced back door is L of a C19 lean-to back kitchen, which is shown on the 1889 Ordnance Survey. Further R is the added C19 unit, with inserted door and window, and window above within a gablet.

Interior

The structure of the medieval house is substantially intact inside the present house. Four cruck trusses remain in situ. The central truss of the original open hall has a collar and raking struts, infilled with plaster. The present lobby-entry plan derives from the alteration to a storeyed house c1600. The hall to the L of the entrance has a fireplace with high-quality carving to its timber lintel. It was probably re-used, since dendrochronology has shown that it was made from a tree felled in the period 1509-54. The late medieval iconography also suggests it has been re-used. Divided into 3 elongated triangular panels, the central depicts a Green Man (unfinished), a highly unusual motif in a domestic setting, an amphisbaena to the L and Tudor rose to the R. At the R end is an original cupboard with later door. The hall has 2 spine beams with stepped stops. In the passage behind the fireplace, to the R of the entrance, is a box-framed partition to the end room, which has a fireplace with replaced lintel, and a joist-beam ceiling, partly replaced, with stepped stops. From the hall to the original parlour is a partition with thinner wooden posts.

Reasons for Listing

Listed for its architectural interest as a late medieval gentry house well preserved within later extensions and modification, and with good interior detail.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29505587

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
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  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
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  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
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  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5